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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Sunny and 3°F

After getting dumped on for the last couple of days with maybe 8" of fresh snow, Spring has returned. The weather guessers were projecting bitterly cold temperatures for today but it didn't happen (big surprise). In Alaska, there seems to be a fascination with weather and I guess I'm no different. I hear that it is still snowing in Anchorage with almost 2' of accumulation just in the last week.

This image is from a webcam at the local newspaper looking south towards the Cushman Street bridge and downtown Fairbanks.

It did take four attempts to get the rig up the driveway due to the fresh snow but once that obstacle was out of the way, it was fairly smooth sailing. I think I may have worn down the studs on the rear tire again. With all the clear pavement, they really wear out quick. The ones on the front tire are still doing great possibly because they only touch the pavement when the bars are turned.

The parking lot has been cleared at least once as yesterday the snow was about 6" deep when I left. I think the only reason I still park in the motorcycle parking is out of habit as the sign suggests that riding season starts on May 1st. These are days where a 2WD Ural starts to look pretty attractive though I'm not sure I want to take on the additional maintenance and repair issues that even the new ones seem to have. Plus, this is the bike that I already have.

Just for comparison, this is what the parking area looked like last year in mid-April.

Richard, we are way behind last year and the year before but not nearly as far behind as Fairbanks. We have a winter storm warning in effect currently; ice-rain, ice pellets and possibly snow (depending on where the temperature falls goes)to start sometime? Today at 6am it was +5C but fell over the day and is predicted to hover at freezing (thus the problem.)

I hear that the new Urals are much more reliable but the Anchorage shop is still 350+ miles from here. I guess I've gotten used to the idea that newer vehicles rarely need repair these days with 10K oil change intervals and 100K factory warrantees.

Richard you are a hearty soul, I don't think I could ever adjust to those cold long winters and short summers. Wow there is a huge difference between last year and this year. So how does global warming play into this? Seems not so warming to me.

When folks talk about global warming, they are referring to fairly small changes in the average temperature and the dramatic effect this has on our environment. I think that the most common example is only a couple of degree rise in the average temperature will be sufficient to cause additional melting of the polar ice. And with more water (dark) exposed instead reflective snow and ice, these areas absorb even more heat raising the temperature even more which accelerates the melting.

There is a bumper sticker for sale somewhere that say "Alaskans for Global Warming". I need to find one of those one of these days. Maybe Vancouver will become the new tropical destination....

Funny. I was able to read the title of this post the other day. Then I walked out to my truck and took a picture of the temperature gauge showing 87F. Your spring is hitting, but hints of our humid summers are emerging.

I would love to hear the crunch of snow under the hack tire. Keep having fun!

It's warm enough now that I don't even bother with plugging in he heated gear anymore. 87°F would be our mid-summer high temperature but still with low humidity. It makes for wonderful weather. The only time I hear snow crunching under the tires is when I push the rig out of the garage.